Trump’s stiff tariffs on steel, aluminum and their impact on trade

March 1, 2018

1 min read

President Trump is taking bold steps to implement his economic policy of putting America first. This is a major step.

The debate will be oversimplified as “tariffs are bad and free trade is good,” but that assumes that what we currently have is in fact free trade, when in fact the Trump administration is concerned that we are being treated unfairly by our trade partners.

There are concerns about retaliation: China has said it could retaliate against US steel tariffs by targeting imports of US agricultural commodities (e.g. soybeans).

There are also concerns about the overall effects this step will have on US jobs (e.g. will it help the steel industry but disproportionately harm other industries?).

In any case it’s the fulfillment of a campaign promise and another instance of President Trump doing what Candidate Trump said he would do.

I was on Fox Business with host Charles Payne to discuss along with Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce and WSJ senior video reporter Shelby Holliday.

The federal government's primary job is to keep the nation safe. Under the Constitution, the president has broad power to exclude non-citizens from the country for national security reasons. The judiciary is supposed to defer to the exercise of presidential power in this area. The executive order in Trump v Hawaii is a valid exercise of the president's constitutional and statutory authority that the Supreme Court should uphold. The First Amendment does not limit the president's valid exercise of executive authority in this case. Watch our discussion on Fox News here:video.foxnews.com/v/5774768092001/?#sp=show-clips... See MoreSee Less

About Gayle Trotter

Gayle Trotter is a columnist, political analyst and attorney who regularly appears on TV, such as Fox News Channel, contributes to The Hill, The Daily Caller, Townhall and other well-known political websites, and is a frequent guest on radio shows across the country providing an insider’s view of Washington, DC. Read More